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SF Archdiocese to remove sprinklers that doused homeless

Posted: Mar 19 2015 08:17PM EDT

Video Posted: Jul 30 2015 09:16PM EDT

Updated: Mar 19 2015 08:30PM EDT

SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU and wires) -- A sprinkler controversy has one San Francisco bishop apologizing. after a local church there comes under fire for what they did to keep homeless people from sleeping on the church property.

A bishop with the Archdiocese of San Francisco said a sprinkler system installed in exterior alcoves at Saint Mary's Cathedral two years ago to deal with messes left by the homeless was "ill-conceived."

Bishop William Justice, the auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of San Francisco and rector of the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption said that the sprinkler system was installed "as a safety, security and cleanliness measure to avoid the situation where needles, feces and other dangerous items" were being left in the doorways.

Saint Mary's Cathedral is a modern church located atop Cathedral Hill in the city's Western Addition neighborhood.

Justice said the sprinkler system was installed only after other ideas were unsuccessful.

He said people who regularly slept in the doorways were told in advance that the sprinklers were being installed.

"We are sorry that our intentions have been misunderstood and recognize that the method used was ill-conceived," Justice said.

"The idea was not to remove those persons, but to encourage them to relocate to other areas of the Cathedral, which are protected and safer," according to Justice.

Justice said since the archdiocese learned that the sprinkler system required a permit to install and that it may violate San Francisco water-use laws, the system will be removed by the end of the day.

According to Justice, the Archdiocese of San Francisco provides thousands of people with food, housing, shelter and other services each year and that it was not the intention of the archdiocese to do away with homeless individuals in need of shelter.